


Foresight

by china_shop



Category: White Collar
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Formalwear, Innuendo, M/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-15 09:18:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3441776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Remind me to thank Peter later for letting me be his proxy," said Neal.</i><br/><i>El's grin broadened. "Yeah, I bet it's just </i>killing<i> him that his stakeout ran long."</i></p><p>Neal and Elizabeth get ready for a gala dinner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Foresight

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to mergatrude for beta. <333

"Which do you think?" Elizabeth held up two pairs of earrings: her grandmother's emeralds and the opals Peter and Neal had given her for their first triad-versary.

"The opals, definitely," said Neal, because they glowed a fiery blue-green and he loved how they brought out her eyes. He gave his bowtie a final tweak and held out his hand. "May I?"

"So gallant," she teased and handed them over, and although she stood perfectly still while he hooked the earrings in place and dropped a soft kiss on her shoulder just above the strap of her dress, her breath quickened, and she sounded reluctant when she added, "We should get going."

The gala dinner was due to start in an hour and a half. El's assistant, Yvonne, was in charge of set-up, but El was overseeing the event proper herself, so they had to be early.

"Remind me to thank Peter later for letting me be his proxy," said Neal.

El's grin broadened. "Yeah, I bet it's just _killing_ him that his stakeout ran long."

"Win-win then." Neal stood back and surveyed her from head to foot. "You look perfect."

"You're not so bad yourself." She winked, then checked her phone. "Shall we?"

"One more thing." Neal cast a glance at her cosmetics arrayed tidily on the dresser and picked out a pale eye shadow, only a few shades lighter than El's warm skin-tone. He tilted his head, asking permission, and she nodded, obviously curious to see what he'd do. Trusting him.

The trust was heady. Neal stepped close again and breathed in the intimate cinnamon and musk of her perfume. He licked his lip and kept his voice politely instructional. "You see, much as I enjoy improvising, there's something to be said for foresight. The most challenging heists take months of planning, schematics and entry routes, every move calculated down to the second. So, just so you know, all evening I'm going to be watching you and thinking about bypassing this alarm—" He dabbed a small, barely perceptible dot on her neck, just below the glint of her left earring. "Skirting the security guard here." The dip of her collar bone. "And stealing a kiss." The swell of her breast, in the shadow of her neckline.

Her eyes darkened. "Oh, babe. Just so _you_ know, if we had time, I'd be making good on that right now."

Neal took her hand, overwhelmed as he so often was by the improbable good fortune that had brought him here, into Peter and El's marriage. That made it commonplace for her to weave their fingers together and look at him with such love and desire. He took it for granted sometimes—and that was its own luxury—but not tonight. "Of course," he said, lightly, to disguise the desperate swell of gratitude that had no place in their relationship, "with any high-stakes job, there's the risk the FBI will send their top agent to catch me in the act."

"Well, you are a notorious world-class thief," said El, her eyes gleaming. "So they have to send the best."

"Maybe you'll find somewhere safe to hide me," said Neal.

El raised an eyebrow as if considering. "Or maybe I'll let him catch you. Who can tell?"

Neal suppressed a shiver of anticipation, and his eyes drifted to the near-invisible dot on her neck. He was going to have a very distracted evening. Win-win indeed.

 

END


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